Annette is a victim. She is merely a victim caught in the crossfire of monarchical and revolutionary forces. Ignorance is not a sin but refusing to learn is; Annette just simply enjoyed her position or privilege, devoid of the other side where poverty-stricken people suffer at the hands of the monarchical society and harbor such animosity towards aristocrats, especially Annette who has royal blood. Although Annette may not have known what her father was doing, she didn't merit such severe criticism or psychological abuse because Annette is not accountable for her father's actions, although it's really evident that she was too ignorant like a princess being pampered or a damsel stuck in a tower. Heiner is currently beyond comprehension, and because of this, I find it impossible to empathize with him atm. He is also a victim but he shouldn't have put all the blame on Annette! I also find it difficult to comprehend why he is holding onto Annette; is it simply out of revenge? I doubt that. He harbor such hatred to her yet he also can't resist to show his care for her, though in an indifferent way.

Although you may have a better understanding of Heiner's mental instability by the middle of the novel, it is still difficult to empathize with him after what he did. But, to be completely honest, I can't despise him completely; given the life he endured and the fact that he made it this far because of her—the way he portrayed her and then blamed her for how f*cked he is. You can see from this how unstable he is, how drowned he is to insanity, how starved of freedom he is to the point of delirium, how he once revered her as a holy saint but that image was quickly destroyed, and how he cannot believe someone will love him just the way he is. We can't deny the complexity of his character, it is hard to fathom what was really going on in his head; the way how a person's love for another can be like a spark of light at first but eventually burn to the ground due to how they were raised in different evironments and social standing. Even still, he was truly terrible; how could he blame her for all of his misery when, at this point, he was the one to blame? Who brought it to himself?

he played the victim. Tossing out the uno reverse card on her and I almost flipped the table. The audacity of this asshat! *Shakes fist in the air* got my blood boiling lol

From the beginning of the story until in the middle I really want to drop because I can't handle the sadness and frustrated when Annete (FL) trying to commit su*cide eveytime and I decide to pickup again when she finally got divorce. But as I keep reading later on, the plot and the story keep making me draw in and the character development between Annete and Heiner (ML) tragic backstory are really done pretty well. The author know how to write the emotion especially Annete, she make me smile and cry. She's one of my fav FL and want to be better person and redeem herself eventho that's not her fault. But the causes of being ignorant to what her tr*sh father done and all the nobles, she willing to change and that's what make me like her so much. Her charater growth develop well and together with the pacing and the story whenever she face crisis. Eventhough I really hate terrible ML who keep torturing his FL mentally, but Heiner kind of somewhat I understand how he behave like that after reading his tragic backstory. But it didn't excuse him for blaming Annete and mistreat her for what her tr*sh father did to him. Both of them really are broken people and have their own flaw.

The ending, some of the reader didn't like but for me I like and satisfy about it. They don't necessary rekindled their realtionship quickly but willing to be close and give time for each other to heal. Their relationship is what I love about them and it's not necessary for the couple to profound affection and love by just getting marry and happy together. You need time to heal emotionally and it takes a little steps to be able to break free from your broken soul.

So the entire novel starts out with the typical Romeo/Juliet-esque trope of star-crossed lovers. We understand that the ML 'betrayed' the FL and basically made her life sheer misery to the point where she wants to commit su*cide. For reasons unknown, ML wants to keep her alive and his attitude towards her is mixed which confuses the audience. If he truly hated her, then why keep her alive? If he loved her, then why did he choose to do what he did?

At this point, it is clear that the author is trying to make the ML some sort of anti-hero/villian type lead which then turns into someone deserving of FL's love. The tricky part of writing such a character is that there must be a redemption arc and that the readers must perceive ML as a suitable match for the FL. Of course, as with redemption arcs, there must be a point where the readers absolutely hate the ML. ML needs to hit rock bottom before he has character growth and thus his redemption arc.

Personally, I found the ~20 chapters dedicated to ML's backstory a little longwinded and unnecessary. It could have been shortened and there there was a lot of passive voice which made it a little boring. Coupled with the fact that the author was trying their best to justify ML's actions towards FL, it made it a little unbelievable. ML was obsessed with FL and she was his only reason for survival. The moment she unknowingly said something insensitive, it triggered ML to overthrow the monarchy, kill FL's entire family, then make her life hell for three years.

In the case of trauma, the response to a certain stimulus is sometimes not proportional, yet this should happen without conscious knowledge. The fact that ML was reasoning things out as he was doing all this points to the fact that all this is done consciously. That's probably why some of the previous reviews point out that ML is one of the tr*shiest MLs ever.

The second point that made me kind of iffy was how they portrayed FL's sin. Initially it was because she was an aristocrat, then it was because she was the daughter of Marquis Dietrich. Then it was because she was ignorant of the world and the atrocities commited by her father. The reason for FL's sin was ever changing and often times didn't make sense. It seemed like a whole lot of guilt by association. While that is a valid plot device to use to justify the actions of the people around FL and make her life miserable, it was also a tool that the author used to redeem ML and make him a worthy match for FL. Otherwise, how could the readers accept that she and ML deserve to be together? ML's sin was killing her family and making her entire life miserable while FL's sin was just being born as the Marquis's daughter? If she agreed to be with ML after suffering all that while not deserving any of it, then it would be a little Stockholm Syndrome-y.

The war arc in which FL has tremendous character growth and ML 'redeems' himself was well written. The descriptions of war and its effect on people were poignant and the imagery used was beautiful as much as it was haunting. For me, the fact that they were both able to be so concerned of the other person whislt in the midst of war was enough for me believe that they belonged together.

The following progression would have been fine:

ML kills FL's father --> FL finds out it was a hoax --> ML doesn't let her leave --> FL commits su*cide but ML stops her (not out of love, but because he recognizes that maybe he went a little too far) --> continue to war arc

The reason I emphasize that is because ML divorcing FL was not out of regret or even love. It was more that he was afraid of breaking something that he'd coveted for so long. In a sense, while they had strong emotions for the other, neither was truly in love with the other person. In the war arc, they both learn things about the other person that allow them to fall in love with the other person as they are and not as they are portrayed to be. We see the natural progression of their relationship and understand that the love they had before was more superficial and closer to obsession than love.

I think the author does recognize all the points I've mentioned since chapters 92+ are the true redemption arc for both leads (ML more deservingly than FL). Even though they did a spectacular job at tying up the emotional loose ends, I do think that cutting back a bit on ML's justification for what he did would have made it better (albeit less angsty). The author did a fantastic job at capturing human emotions like Catherine's forgiveness, Hans not wanting to go back and becoming a burden, Jackson's 'late' forgiveness towards FL and his apology towards ML.